Court sends MLA Amanatullah Khan to judicial custody, to hear bail plea tomorrow

New Delhi [India], September 26 : A Delhi court on Monday remanded AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan to judicial custody and will hear his bail plea on Tuesday. The AAP MLA has been in custody in a case related to alleged irregularities in appointments in Delhi Waqf Board during his chairmanship.
Special CBI Judge Vikas Dhull remanded Amanatullah Khan to judicial custody for 14 days. The court has asked the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to file a reply on his bail plea.
The AAP MLA was produced before the court after five days of custody and was interrogated by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for 9 days.
At the last hearing, ACB said that money was sent to Dubai and other money transactions need to be investigated. It was also alleged that an MCD school in Fatehpuri masjid was converted to shops and they were rented out at lesser rent which caused a loss to the board.
On Wednesday ACB sought an extension of 10 days of remand for further interrogation and confrontation of the accused with his associate Kausar Imran Siddiqui alias who has been arrested from Telangana. Kausar Imran Siddiqui is identified to be the fund manager of the accused, ACB argued.
The court was informed that the accused was taken to Bada Hindu Rao hospital and then to AIIMS due to health problems and therefore, the remand time was consumed providing treatment to the accused.
The additional public prosecutor (APP) while seeking remand, submitted that the accused needed to be confronted with Laddan who had been arrested. Laddan was maintaining a diary. It was revealed during the investigation that a large amount of money was sent to Dubai and then transferred to a party. There were 100 people who either received or paid money to Laddan. Out of these 37 people have transactions of crores of rupees and the diary also has an entry about Zeeshan Haider who received crores of rupees. He is also a close associate of the accused.
APP submitted that all these need to be investigated and it requires time. Therefore an extension of the remand should be granted.
It was alleged that a sum of Rs. 2 lakh was paid to the accused through a cheque by Hamid Ali through his company Cosmos developers of Uttrakhand. It was stated by the person that he borrowed the amount and returned it to the accused.
A certain amount has gone to Dubai also, APP submitted. At this point, Senior advocate Rahul Mehra opposed saying the link to Dubai should be explained. "Who sent the money, who received it and how it was sent, all these should be explained", Mehra said.
APP Shrivastav said, "He could not disclose the details as the media is in court". Mehra said that then the ACB should not have talked about Dubai.
The ACB also submitted that Laddan is a nominated functionary of a political party. He has photographs with the accused during an iftar party. Rahul Mehra objected to the contention saying there are photos of other leaders. Every leader meets people during festivities. It should be investigated. He asked, "ACB have they asked the accuser about this part. How this is relevant?".
If a person is maintaining a diary it is relevant as evidence, APP replied. He said it clearly depicts the link, it needs investigation and is the fund manager of the accused.
The APP also referred to a complaint from a school also. APP Arul Shrivastav also submitted that a school in Katara Neel, Fatehpuri was converted into shops and these were rented out. But the accused didn't clarify this.
If these are not clarified, then what is the purpose of investigation, Rahul Mehra questioned. He said that the accused Hamid has been granted bail today by the Saket court.
The ACB said from the house of Hamid and Laddan, arms and money were recovered and Rs. 14 crores sale deed is recovered and Laddan is a witness in the deed.
APP said, "There are many people and things that need to be investigated. We will give questions in writing and will videograph the interrogation".
It was also submitted that as per the statement of an SDM, there was no sanction to appoint contractual employees. He said, "then how can they be appointed?".
There is an allegation of demanding a bribe of Rs. 10 lakh from a bidder for a shop. The bidder was withdrawn after he refused to pay it. Consequently, the shop was rented out at a lesser price.
Mehra submitted that there is no material, and no link to show how it is connected with the case. "How this fund is connected with the appointment on 32 posts?", he questioned.
He also submitted that Waqf was part of the government, an autonomous body. The CEO is a government, and he reports directly to LG. CEO was provided with every document, rent lease. They are not telling this fact to the court.
There should be corroborative and independent evidence to connect the accused with all these funds and transactions, Mehra argued.
He referred to the Jain Diary case to say that in that case no one was convicted on the basis of entries in the diary. "What is new material to seek remand?" he asked.
Mehra said that there is a dispute on the land of Karbala. The litigant in that matter is the witness of ACB in this case.
He said that for Lease agreements a detailed procedure is there. There is no iota of material to show what has been violated. There is no tenancy, only the old ones were renewed.
He submitted that there is no new ground or extension of ground. The accused should be sent to judicial custody after dismissing the remand application.